The President and the Frog By Carolina De Robertis

Jen CAN

You had me at “books saved my life”. How can ones interest not be piqued with such a statement?
Now, many years later, a reporter arrives to interview the former president, perhaps one last time. During this time, he reflects on his survival. Before books became his salvation, and before he became the president, he was a guerilla leader sitting out his years in isolation in a hole. What really saved him and his vision, was a relationship with a frog.

Whether the frog actually existed or was a manifestation of his mind, we will never know. But through the storytelling of his life to this creature, it gave him hope that he would still be able to illicit change in a dictatorship country. It gave him hope to live.
Beautifully written and loosely based on the president of Uruguay, a leader who fought for equality; who fought for his people. Who fought for a nation to be rebuilt.
4⭐️

Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader

Beth and I buddy read Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis about a month ago, and we loved it. What a flawless book about friendship, love, and finding oneself in the midst of a revolution. It deserves every award and recognition.

The President and the Frog is set in an unnamed Latin American country that often felt like the Uruguay of Cantoras. This slim novella highlights the life of a fictional president, one time guerrilla fighter of the resistance. One who chooses to live humbly in a small house with his wife who also holds a position in government. It’s about his time imprisoned in a hole under ground, and what turn of events helps to get him to the other side and keeps him from giving up on life and his own spirit.

The President’s story is an inspiring one, and the author’s note explains the fact behind the fiction. The story reminds us that good can overpower evil, and the strength of the human spirit is immense. It has a strong philosophical flavor and is rooted, understandably so, in politics.

Carolina de Robertis is an extraordinary writer. Beth and I already have plans to read her debut, and I can’t wait for that!

A big thank you to Beth for buddy reading this book, as well as Cantoras, with me.

Thank you to Knopf for the gifted copy.

Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog:
www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram:
www.instagram.com/tarheelreader

Diane S ☔

A young woman comes to interview a man who had been President of his country. He had also been in his earlier life a guerilla, fighting for the soul of his country, fighting for the freedom of the people. He had spent twelve years in solitary confinement, four of those years in a hole in the ground, a place where he came close to losing his mind. It is a frog, a simple frog, who would be his salvation. A talking frog at that, a frog that would make him relive his past, help him to stay grounded, to not give up. Was the frog real? The mind can play tricks in dire situations, yet real or not, it saved his sanity.

There are no names given for this humble man, who from this hole, would years later become President and unite his people. Restore democracy. Although his name is not given, in the afterward, the author acknowledges that this book is inspired by the former president of Uruguay, Jose Monica aka Pepe. There are warnings here, warnings of how easily democracy can be subverted. The United States, Norway, other countries caught in the wave of populism, a wave that can destroy a fragile democracy if it is not fought against.

Like all her books, this author's fiction contains horrors, of past, present and what could come without due diligence.

"Presidents should not pretend they're kings."

"The only refuge left is what we give each other."

Hsinju Chen

De Robertis wrote my favorite book ever, Cantoras (
my review), and one of her other novels, The Gods of Tango (
my review), is also among my top reads. Even before I flipped open the first page of The President and the Frog, I knew their writing is going to embrace me like an old friend, as flowing as breathing, and it certainly did.

I finished the book on the 74th anniversary of 228 Incident in Taiwan with a mug of hot yerba mate on my desk. For me personally, I don’t know if there was a more fitting time to read it. There is no way to not read this as a political work. The references of global politics are evident and impossible to miss.

Told in duo timelines, we follow an unnamed ex-president (82) of an unnamed Latin American country through an interview with Norwegian reporters in the present timeline. The ex-president realized that the interviewer seemed to be different from all previous reporters, asking questions like she really cared and understood, and he wondered if he would end up sharing his deepest secrets in this interview after all. We learn more about this secret in the past timeline, his history before being a president as an imprisoned guerilla who had no one to talk to but a boisterous talking frog.

Whether or not the frog really communicated with the president is up to each reader’s interpretation. The best thing about the story is that most characters were unnamed, not the president nor the frog nor the reporter. Because there were no names for them, you could either say that their stories were already lost in history and no one remembered the names, or that the book is universal, and hence no need to have names, no need for specificity. I tend to think of it as the latter, especially with the president’s country being unnamed, too.

It is a political piece with this ex-president representing South America, “North” alluding to the US during the Tr*mp era, Norway as Europe, and the Japanese flower-teacher Mr. Takata symbolizing the whole Asia. With all the dirt in the past timeline mostly taking place in a dingy hole of a prison cell and the lush garden of the ex-president’s humble abode in the present time, the main theme is life itself. From the earth, the dirt, sprouts flowers and other plants, and in turn, hope and a better future. It is about going through rock bottom and being reborn again, still having the power to live, the will to survive, and the fight left in him. There is also an underlying theme of generational pain from war and familial love through rebirth. From what I had gathered, the whole story expresses the idea of the world having a shared history as well as a shared future.

The President and the Frog is a book on political ideologies and idealities, a story paying tribute to Uruguayan ex-president José Mujica, whose personal journey this fictional president’s mirrored. It is almost a biography, but the fictional and fantastical elements made it more relatable for the global audience in the present day.

content warnings: incarceration, physical abuse, torture, mention of gun wound, animal injury, police brutality, mention of death, queerphobia, rape, mass shooting, blood, mention of war

I received digital review copies from Knopf via Edelweiss & NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Buddy read with
Gabriella!

~~I have NEVER been SO EXCITED for another ARC in my life!!!~~

Betsy Robinson

Better than any spiritual how-to book, The President and the Frog dramatizes and, for me, made me live out the answering of the Buddhist koan, "Who am I really?"

How many of us writers were thrown into this deep introspection with the election of a mad man? I know I was through the book I've been working on for more than six years. And De Robertis is dealing with the same material in a completely different way than I do. I have no doubt that one day there will be a whole canon of fiction whose essence lies in dealing with this time in history.

The titular President (based on the real President of Uruguay, per the acknowledgements) entertains a journalist from Norway who wants to know about his journey from guerrilla fighter and prisoner to becoming the everyman leader of the country, eschewing all pomp and continuing to live in his little cottage with his garden.

The President never tells the journalist his complete story, but the reader gets to live it—his life in a hole where he meets a Zen-master in the form of an ornery frog.

So many times I had to stop reading and contemplate my own feelings, following them to their roots. This is a book that meditators and contemplators will love.

Jenny (Reading Envy)

Carolina de Robertis writes about a retired president of an unnamed country (of course I assume Uruguay,) speaking to a Norwegian reporter about his history first as an insurgent, then as a prisoner, than as the poorest president in the world (as in he lived in his own home and did his own gardening.)

It's definitely a philosophical novel and the entire time he's trying not to tell the reporter about this frog that visited him when he was imprisoned, and... changed his life. (People who were surprised this wasn't on the ToB list - this would have been our second frogman!) They also discuss concern over the direction the USA has taken and what all of it means if you are paying attention.

I loved her novel Cantoras and it's a hard one to beat, but this is good for people who would welcome a quick philosophical or political read.

I had an early copy of this from the publisher through Netgalley.

Phyllis

This novel is a balm for the soul, not because it is shiny or sweet, but because it assures that, in the face of all of the world's horrors -- global, national, communal, personal -- there remains "socorro;" there remains the "refuge [that] we give each other."

Set sometime after the U.S. elections in November 2016, a reporter from Norway interviews the former president of an unnamed South American country. Interspersed with the chapters relating the interview and its circumstances are chapters that are the recollections of the former president from the eight years he spent in prison after his arrest as a revolutionary guerrilla, over four in a windowless solitary hole, and in particular the conversations he had with a frog -- conversations that literally kept him alive. There is nothing I can say that will accurately and fully convey what you will find in this novel or the depth of its beauty, but it is now among my favorites of all time and I plan to read it again and again, as frequently as my soul needs rejuvenating.

De Robertis says in the acknowledgements that the story is loosely based on the life of the former Uruguayan president Jose "Pepe" Mujica.

Jill

In our weary and broken world, perhaps the only way to approach the threats to an equalitarian democracy is through the use of myth.

That is why, I suspect, Carolina De Robertis correctly abandons a more reality-filled approach and relies heavily on an 82-year-old former president’s recollection of conversations with a frog during some of his darkest moments.

A frog, after all, is a symbol of transformation and change. And when the ex-president’s younger self – an imprisoned guerilla fighter – is about to give up hope, it is only fitting that his spirit animal should guide him forward. How did this broken person we meet eventually become “The Poorest Person in the World” and what inspired his love of his country and the people in it?

This spare novel goes back and forth as the nameless president (who, the book jacket tells us, is inspired by Uruguayan president Jose Mujica) converses with the loudmouthed frog in the past and then, speaks with a Norwegian reporter in the present. The person who emerges from these dialogues is a leader who many have yearned for: a visionary who not only believes in, but also practices the ideals of a more equal and compassionate economic path and a caring of other beings and of the land itself.

Trump is alluded to—how could he not be?—and herein, perhaps inadvertently, lies the sorrow of this novel for the U.S. reader. With our innocence lost, our morality compromised, and our ugliness revealed, can we really think differently about the shape of our world or even the survival of it? I suspect that some readers will warm to this allegory of the resilience of the human spirit and the need to dream bigger while others will label it as more rhetoric from the “radical left” – as if it’s a radical thing to aspire to be better. I’m rating this 4.5 and thank Alfred A. Knopf for providing the book in exchange for an honest review.

Michael Finocchiaro

This was an unexpectedly great piece of magical realism in the tradition of Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Mario Vargas Llosa. De Robertis is from Uruguay and this book is a fictionalized biography of José Mujica, the President of Uruguay from 2009 to 2015. The story takes place in his old age as a retired man, but there are many flashbacks to his 15 years in prison as a leftist guerilla. It is during this time that he meets the frog...
The book is well-written and very engaging. Highly recommended.

My list of Pulitzer candidates - please come and vote for your favorite!

Adri

4.5 Stars

CWs: Descriptions of imprisonment and inhumane living conditions; some allusions to torture; some non-graphic allusions to rape; brief mention of mass shooting and child death

Please refer to
my full video review to learn more about my thoughts on this title!

Carolina de Robertis has once again written a truly extraordinary and fascinating story that comments on the human condition and the power of community. She has a singular gift of bringing history to life and making it feel vibrant, urgent, and alive. Thematically, The President and the Frog falls in line with a lot of her other work in that it explores the politicization of human existence, living in a way that challenges societal norms, and fighting back against oppression and injustice. At the same time, it is entirely different than anything she's ever written before. It's an abstract, philosophical interrogation of hopelessness and cynicism that manages to pack quite an emotional punch in a very short amount of space.

Ultimately, I think this story (like all of de Robertis' work) is about liberation. It's a story that invites us to think about how we can liberate ourselves from political injustice, apathy, and hopelessness. In a world where so much is going wrong, where so many systems of power are corrupt and failing, where injustice persists on an institutional and global scale, where do we find our power? How do we reclaim control over the uncontrollable? How do we continue to nurture healing, hope, and good will in a world that doesn't seem to value those things? How do we strengthen our connection to our community in a world that preys on our disconnection and isolation?

Through this unique lens of magical realism, surrealism, and oral history, de Robertis weaves an unforgettable story about a character making the not-so-easy choice to resist and persist, especially in a world that often demands and expects our erasure and silence. The narrative is ultimately framed as a parable, with all the moving parts of the story being in service of the message as opposed to character development or backstory, and I think that's actually why it works.

I think some people will definitely say this story is too idealistic, unrealistic, or a romanticization of history and/or historical figures. But those aren't sticking points for me, because I think this story is shaped around the message, and the message is what ultimately moved me in the most profound way possible.

I'm being intentionally vague about the story, because I think it can only be properly understood when it's experienced firsthand. What I will say is that whether you're a long time Carolina de Robertis reader or you're new to their work, this book is absolutely worth the read in my opinion. (And so is de Robertis' backlist, for that matter.) Frankly, I think we're fortunate to be living in the same timeline as Carolina de Robertis, and I cannot wait to see what she writes next.

Dorothy

What a pleasure this book was to read. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get to it for it had been in my reading queue for months but finally, I picked it up as my very last read of 2021 and it turns out it was a great way to close out the year.

It is a short book at only around 220 pages so one could almost read it in one sitting if one had nothing else to do. Carolina De Robertis packs quite a lot into those few pages. She gives us the story of an 82-year-old man who is the former president of a South American country that is never actually named but is assumed to be Uruguay. He is about to be interviewed by a television journalist from Norway and as he waits for her he reflects on his life and on the part of it that he does not want to reveal to anyone. That secret part is his relationship with a frog.

As a much younger man, the former president had taken part in an attempted revolution against the autocratic government that was then in power. The attempt was unsuccessful and many of the revolutionaries, including him, were captured and imprisoned in solitary confinement for years. His cell for the first four years was a hole in the ground with a grate covering part of the top through which food was lowered to him each day and through which he was extracted from time to time for "questioning," i.e., torture. His only light came through that grate and his only companions at first were the spiders and bugs that found their way into his hole, but finally, another creature joined him there: a frog.

This was no ordinary frog. For one thing, he could talk. He was, in fact, a philosopher frog, a snarky and prescient frog, and he and the future president had many long conversations about life and its meaning. They talked about the quest for justice and dignity and what it means to love a country. Those conversations are full of irony and satire as they reflect on politics, on the disparities endemic in society, and the systemic racism that seems so hard to root out. Their conversations are sometimes funny, sometimes moving, but always insightful. And they are a secret that the ex-president has carried with him for more than forty years.

The interview with the journalist takes place in 2016 after the presidential election in the United States and that, too, comes up in the conversation. The ex-president marvels at the idea that a country could freely elect such an ignoramus to be its leader.

This is the third of De Robertis' books that I have read after The Gods of Tango and Cantoras and I think it may be my favorite. It is very different from the other two books but it has in common with them her brilliant insights into what it is to be human. It is part historical fiction and part fable and she ties all of that together beautifully with masterful writing. The technique she employs is to flash back and forth through time as we witness the interactions with the frog who urges the man to dig deep and find "the One Thing" and the conversation with the interviewer who expresses concern about the ramifications of climate change and of the American election. The result of comparing and contrasting the two conversations is to give us a sense of the indomitable human spirit that finds hope and optimism even in the face of the grimmest reality.

It's difficult to adequately describe this novel. There isn't much of a plot and one can't really say it is character-driven. The "action" takes place entirely in the head of the main character, as we are privy to his thoughts and memories. It's not a book that everyone would enjoy, but I loved it and I'm just glad I finally got to it at the end of the year.

John of Canada

I thought much of the writing was excellent, I enjoyed the dialogue with the frog, and to a lesser extent with the reporter. I will have a look at writings about Uruguay after this. I thought the ideas were very original. I also thought the not so subtly veiled references to Trump and progressive ideology weren't. I like that the author referenced Cervantes and Borges. She however is not a Cervantes or Borges.
Having taken a second look at this, I should say that although she is not a Borges or a Cervantes, neither is anyone else. This was a lovely homage to President Jose Mujica who really did live in a shack, drove a Volkswagen Beetle, and donated 90% of his salary to the less fortunate. For making me aware of this superior human being, Carolina gets another star.

Jan

From the 2022 Pen Faulkner longlist, de Robertis crafts a beautiful, timely and witty story of despair and hope. I especially liked the novel’s structure and the callout and inspiration of Aristophanes’ The Frogs.

☕️Hélène⚜️

A short book but it was outside of my comfort zone so it took me awhile to read it.
Resilience, courage and love for once country.
The conversation with the Frog was very entertaining.

Adam Ferris

'''Well? So? What the hell else am I supposed to do?'
'Get ready.'
'For what?'
'The rest of your life.'"

The former president of an unnamed Latin American country is being interviewed in his garden by a Norwegian journalist to talk about his legacy, the country and the current state of the world. With alternating flashbacks to his time as a prisoner as a guerilla soldier fighting the authoritarian state and his conversations with a frog that may or may not have been real. In engrossing and clever language, Carolina De Robertis spins an entertaining tale that is contemporarily both personal and political.

"Everything real is in the deep end."

If we are to take one thing from The President and the Frog, it is that the real nitty gritty of life is found in delving a litter deeper into our spirits of resilience, integrity and faith. There is no easy way. There is no quick fix to the struggles of life. I am often reminded of the lines from one of my favourite Social Distortion songs that goes:

"That's the way that it goes
And I know how you feel
No ones immune now
To a world of problems
No one's exempt now
From a world of pain"

While in a hole for a prison cell, the unnamed protagonist learns about his mettle from a frog who steals the show and lends levity and humour to the dire situation of being a political prisoner. This magical frog could be God or it could be a hallucination. Or maybe it's just a frog or a ghost. All we know is that we all have mirrors that present us with the opportunity to take a true, honest look at ourselves, or we can take the deceivingly easy way out.

"You've got a terrible laugh. Like you're farting, or fucking, or both at once."

For me, the best books and art for that matter, help me learn a bit more about myself and the world around me and Carolina De Robertis has done so witht his book. The President and the Frog mixes insight with humour and universality with intimacy to an exceptional effect.

"If you could see it you would know where you are inside the telling. You would know the difference between the end and The End."

"The future belongs to dreamers, he thought, but not purists."

"Even horror is an opening. Every moment a new beginning until we reach the end."

"How strange it was, the inability to ever fully see yourself through another person's eyes."

Mohammad حکمت

When I read the synopsis of the book, I found the idea of imagining conversations between a president and an animal brilliant. A fantasy somewhat absurd yet completely reasonable given the solitude of the president character (both when he had lost his freedom while in prison and when he became a prominent political figure domestically and internationally, forcing him to guard his opinions.) The idea sounded novel and full of promise and opportunity for creativity and imagination. I enthusiastically started reading the book. Alas my enthusiasm didn't last till the end of the book. Instead I frequently found myself dissatisfied and reluctant to read on. What ruined the joy for me was that despite its promising plot line, the execution of the novel failed in nurturing the imagination, mostly because the book is too closely based on José Mujica's life. It makes it feel that the reader knows what would come next. Worse than that, the references to current events (such as the rising concern over climate change) and frequent references to the crazy president in the country up north made it more like a piece of news rather than a work of art that invites the reader to imagine a different world.

This was not the only failure of the execution of this novel. The relationship between the president and this imaginary companion was not developed well either. There was no bond between them. No chemistry. There was a hint of dependence (from the president's side) but not quite enough to justify its continuation. The frog must have been meant to be a pure figment of the president's imagination likely because of long days, weeks and years of solitude and torture but its appearance and disappearance never felt dramatic enough. The frog was neither authoritative nor sympathetic. Some object in between that didn't serve either purpose. And the conversations between them were most of the time tedious and dry.

To be fair, despite the shortcomings of execution, the book had some flashes of brilliance in writing and deep thoughts on human nature and what it takes to forgive, to completely transform one and adapt to changing times. This was my first encounter with Carolina de Robertis and as disappointed and annoyed as I am, I am glad I found her because I have a feeling her best is yet to come.

Elena L.

"The revolution - such as it was, whatever the word meant these days - had to be for everyone, period."

When a reporter visits the Poorest President in the World, she seeks to unbury the truth behind his lifestyle. Being a 82-year-old person, at this stage it is believed that the former president already told all his stories and answered all the questions. However, this interview seems to uncover an intimate version of his own story.

Full of smart metaphors and written with a lyrical yet sharp prose, this story is just spectacular! Going from the narrator's early years to his story as old guerilla, I found myself devouring every line. The most exciting part was the mysterious story of the frog, taken place 40 years ago while he was imprisoned in a hole as a political prisoner. The satirical conversations without sense unpack a philosophical take on politics, with criticism on the systemic racism that runs centuries deep and economic/education disparities.

In only 200 pages, De Robertis reaches the deepest of human mind, bringing new approaches to leadership and relationship between nations, besides the complexity of the power's spider web.
Every chapter unravels a different texture of intensity of the narrator's stage of life, sparkled by the smallest and most ordinary things that I found impressive. Every section shapes a certain type of liberation in order to include everyone, showing the power of dream and change. Ultimately, each word has its impact without being overly dense.

THE PRESIDENT AND THE FROG is a work of extreme insight that delivers hope in despairing times. This book echoes the real-life legacy of former Uruguayan president Jose Mujica - it is timely and invites us to dream big in pursuit of justice. I urge you to embrace this unforgettable novel!

[ I received a complimentary copy from the publisher - Knopf publishing - in exchange for an honest review ]

Gabriella

After loving Cantoras so much, I will read anything Carolina De Robertis writes, so I was super excited to get my hands on this new book! The President and the Frog is different from Cantoras and The Gods of Tango in that it’s less concrete and character-driven and more and abstract and philosophy-driven. While I prefer the former, I still really enjoyed this book, mainly because De Robertis’ writing is as exquisite as ever!

I received an ARC from Knopf via NetGalley and Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review.

Derek Trygstad

(excitedly whispering) “this book has everything - love, torture, talking frogs, prison escapes, gardening, former Uruguayan President Jose Mujica, yerba mate…” I read this in one day.

Caitlin D

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
- Rainer Maria Rilke (1905)

Carolina De Robertis' fifth novel is so different than her previous four and yet it has her DNA all over it. For fans of her other books, the beautiful writing and themes about getting free and finding hope in the darkest of times in The President and the Frog will feel like a familiar warm blanket. I always feel at home in De Robertis' delectable prose and this new book is no exception. I read along with the audiobook which the author themselves narrates and her high pitched, sing-songy voice for the frog made the conversations even more whimsical and humorous. Highly recommend the audiobook-physical book read-a-long combo for this novel. The dialogue scenes between the future President in the hole in prison and the frog are often hilarious and add needed levity to the darker setting.

I wouldn't call this a traditional novel. There is not much of a plot and I am not even sure I would say it is particularly character driven. We do spend the entire time in his head but it feels more about memory and inner transformation. If anything, this novel is really about the message. It feels like De Robertis is aiming for parable in this book. Yes, it's political but it is also more than that. De Robertis is writing to lift themselves, and us - especially those who live on the margins, out from our despair. In a lot of ways this book reminds me of the musical Hadestown and it’s political themes interwoven with feeling despair and finding hope in a man who “sees the world how it could be, in spite of the way that it is.”

What mental feat could overcome such an insidious enemy. How do you win when the enemy is implanted in your mind? What superhuman mental strength does it require to lift your thoughts to the right frequency for survival, how to find that strength, where to source it, what's the way?

De Robertis bravely confronts the 2016 election although I am sure this choice will alienate some readers. To them I would say that she has no interest in writing for you in the first place and would likely tell you to kindly f*ck off. In contrasting the 2016 election - and other recent world political events - with the despair the former President felt during his own country's democratic backslide, she very deliberately places a unique lens on current events. In this book, it is the Latin American former President who has lessons to teach the West. Through his experience and knowledge we get a unique gaze on issues in the "North." The author is imploring us to learn that every country has something to teach the others. Sharing lessons is not a one way street.

...little by little and stitch by stitch we can reweave the world.

Heavily based on the real life former President of Uruguay Jose (El Pepe) Mujica, it is difficult not to read this as biography. De Robertis made the choice to have her character unnamed in an attempt to both pay respect to Mujica while also opening the story up to wider readings. For me, separating the character of the President from what I know about Mujica - ironically much of it learn't through her other novels - was difficult. What happened to the President in the book was almost identical to what happened to Mujica himself. His wife's name was changed but her occupation and experiences were not. It was a weird sensation of reading a book that we all know is based on Mujica and Uruguay all the while pretending we don't know that it is all about Mujica and Uruguay. I even found myself looking up certain events described in the book to see if they really happened to Mujica. Perhaps this is a failure of my own imagination and ability to separate the two but I did read this as a Uruguay/Mujica story. Would my reading experience have been different had I not known about Mujica and had just read this as an unnamed fictional President? I have no idea.

Overall this is a really interesting and thought provoking novel by my favourite author. If you liked the writing in this then you should definitely check out her other books which are quite different in story. And, as always, there were so many interesting passages that made me stop and think and see things in a different way. I enjoyed the parts about his journey with understanding sexism and queer liberation, and how he was not always perfect on every issue. Furthermore, sitting in his head in that cell and feeling the thoughts and doubts he was having was a guttural experience. Imagining trying so hard, fighting for your people only to end up in prison under a dictatorship and being left to wonder if your actions actually made the situation worse. Wondering if now your own people hate you. These are scary and unsettling thoughts.

It's so easy to blame the broken.
So frightening to blame the fist of power.

Yes this book goes to bleak places but you always know with De Robertis that you are in safe hands and that she will lift you out of it in the end. You will not finish this in despair. De Robertis has created two magical frogs. The first lives in the pages of the book and is for the President. The second is the book itself and is for us.

Old Man and the Read

A Norwegian journalist has come to interview the poorest president in the world. He is now eighty two and is still living in a tiny 3 room cottage in the country, the same one that he has lived in for many years, including while he was president. The story then alternates between her interview of him and the major events in his life. Much of it is about the years he was imprisoned and held in a dark hole in complete isolation where he befriended a frog that he imagined talked to him and imparted wisdom to him. He has endured the worst that humanity can impart to any individual but when he was eventually elected president of his small South American country he only wanted to do good for his people. Carolina De Robertis gave us the most idealistic person that could ever lead a country in this book but I think the whole point in her story was to contrast that with the very worst who could ever lead a country, Donald Trump. She never mentioned his name in the book but she talked about the man who was elected in the North and how he crapped in a golden toilet. She noted how people of the world were stunned when he won the election and wondered "How could anyone vote for such a man?". Good question, I often wonder that myself.

Tessa

This is the first I've read of Carolina De Robertis. I have a copy of Cantoras that I have not yet read- but it is moving further up my list after reading The President and the Frog. The writing is just beautiful. I was intrigued to see how the frog was going to integrate into the story- but I gotta say, De Robertis pulls it off. And really, the snarkiness of the frog really adds a dimension that is necessary to counterbalance a lot of idealist and philosophical dialogue (both in the president's head and out loud) that is lovely but well served by a few interludes of snark.

This is a short novel that packs a big punch. There's a lot to digest and consider about a country's obligations to take care of its citizens. It was weirdly cool to read this right after reading A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Becky Chambers) which explores what the world might look like if the world took care of ALL of its inhabitants- human or not. I would recommend the pairing.

Thanks to Edelweiss and Knopf for the review copy!

ManOfLaBook.com

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The President and the Frog by Carolina De Robertis is a political fiction story examining justice, leadership, and how we remember things. Ms. De Robertis is a published author who wrote several international bestsellers.

The ex-President of an unnamed Latin American country is being interviewed by a European journalist. While discussing his legacy, as well as the status of democracy around the globe, the President reminisces. He especially remembers his past as a revolutionary, a prisoner, and a guerilla.

The President, remembers a strange event he had in jail, but does not want to share it. While held in solitary confinement for a long time, the only creature ever to talk back to him was… a frog.

Previously, I have enjoyed reading the works of Carolina De Robertis very much, and am always on the lookout for one of her books. I was happy to receive a copy of the book, all in all, it did not disappoint.

The President and the Frog is a short book, a novella if you will, though it has a lot to say. The interviewer in this book seem to ask questions she cares about, certainly different from other reporters. The ex-President realizes that and surprisingly wonders if he should share his deepest secret – a talking frog

The symbolism is deep in the book, Europe, Trump’s America, Latin America and post WWII Asia are all present. This is a hopeful book, even though the themes of war and suffering is at the forefront.

Ms. De Robertis takes on several political ideologies. The novel itself does not mention names, or places. The author, however, does admit that she modeled the ex-President after Jose Mujica, Uruguay’s former President.

I did appreciate that the author managed to hit several hot-button topics without preaching. In an indirect way, Ms. De Robertis sends a message without hitting the reader over the head with it. Additionally, I wondered if the choice of a magical frog was due to the politicized internet meme of Pepe the Frog, appropriated by white supremacists, or was simply a coincidence.

I enjoyed the writing very much, it’s strong and delicate at the same time. Latin America’s literary device of magical realism, which the author used in Perla as well, shows its power in storytelling.

Megan Seely

I love this author and De Robertis didn’t disappoint. There is so much insight in this little book.

McKenzie

I thoroughly enjoyed this slim novel, wherein a former president of a South American country (a fictionalized Jose Mujica of Uruguay) is interviewed by a Norwegian reporter. The president considers telling the reporter the true story of his time in isolated captivity when he was a guerrilla fighter, when he struggled to stay sane for 4 years without human contact, by fixating on the conversations he believes he had with a frog about his life story and why he needed to stay alive. The novel jumps back and forth between the interview and the president's time in captivity, considering the mechanisms of political power, democracy in our contemporary world, and human decency.

Carolina De Robertis' writing is beautiful, concise, and compelling. Each passage is poetic and honest - "He was not so much surprised as he was struck by how impossible it was to ever gauge how a person existed in their skin, the way the world pressed down on them, the exact shape and weight of the pressing." The President and the Frog was an unexpected joy to read, and one I definitely recommend.

R.J. Sorrento

A glimmer of hope for dark times.

THE PRESIDENT AND THE FROG feels so different from CANTORAS yet some themes continue including Uruguayan politics and intersectional feminism. I love the simplicity of format as the author alternates between the President to be’s conversation with a frog as a political prisoner and a post-presidency interview with a Norwegian journalist.

What hit me the most is the discussion on climate change and ecology. Climate change doesn’t recognize borders and countries leaving large carbon footprints (such as the US) create consequences for the entire world.

And yet somehow through so much despair she brings us to a place of hope. That we can grow things on this Earth.

Thank you Knopf for the NetGalley widget.

Thurston Hunger

An overly simple tale that just never turned the corner for me. I was able to dispel the image of Michigan J. Frog early on, but as the frog kept croaking on about "The One Thing you need" - he started to feel like some infomercial self-help expert, or worse a televangelist.

Others found more germane seeds here, and I completely understand that recent times and leaders have produced more fertilizer than many can handle. The seeds just did not blossom as a garden of insight and delights here for me.

Perhaps the clear basis on a real person made it more difficult to flesh the story out, especially if that man already has a mythic aura to some. I'll have to look for Emir Kusturica's documentary on Jose Mujica.

Jen

Just: dammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmn. I love Carolina's writing so, so much. This book is a treasure.

Let's grow everything here, everything we can.

Joey Mazz

A great read. A very straight forward story with a beautiful message about mankind’s hope and resilience. The language paints beautiful scenery and the main character is wonderful.

Deedi Brown (DeediReads)

All my reviews live at
https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

The President and the Frog is a quirky, funny, moving, and ultimately hopeful little novel. It won’t be for everyone, but I really liked it.

For you if: You like literary fiction, historical fiction, and fables.

FULL REVIEW:

First, thank you to Knopf for the gifted copy of this book! Like many others, I read and loved Cantoras, and so I jumped at the chance to read Caronlina De Robertis’ next novel. If you’re hoping for a similar story in The President and the Frog, you might be disappointed — the stories are very different — but her gorgeous writing and piercing insight into humanity is absolutely here.

Part historical fiction, part fable, The President and the Frog is about a man whose character is a fictionalized version of José Mujica, the former president of Uruguay. As he welcomes yet another reporter into his home, he finds himself ruminating on a story he’s never, in his years as an open book, told anyone: the visits from a talking, prescient frog during his solitary confinement as a political prisoner. We flash backward and forward in time, between the frog urging him to dig deep to find The One Thing, and the reporter who’s nervous about the global ramifications of climate change and the 2016 US election. What emerges is a story that offers a grounded form of hope and optimism in the face of grim reality.

The middle felt a little slow for me, but that’s because I’m not the kind of person to seek out historical fiction for the sake of the genre, and I know very little about the political history of Uruguay. I imagine that someone with a personal connection to the country or an interest in history in general would feel much differently. Still, I loved the beginning and the end of this book enough to have really liked this book overall. De Robertis has written us a funny, quirky, moving, and memorable tale that reminds us not only what it means to not only fight for the good, but also the struggle and importance of reminding ourselves why.

Finally: De Robertis narrated her own audiobook, which I listened to as I read. I really believe this added a lot to my reading experience — her rendition of the frog, in all his smart-ass wisdom, brought him to life in a way that I can’t imagine could have happened on the page alone.

If you like literary fiction, historical fiction, and fables (what a combo!), pick this one up.

CONTENT WARNINGS:
Confinement; Rape (alluded to)

Title	:	The President and the Frog
Author	:	Carolina De Robertis
Rating	:
ISBN	:	0593318412
ISBN-10	:	9780593318416
Language	:	English
Format Type	:	Hardcover
Number of Pages	:	224
Publication	:	First published August 3, 2021
Awards	:	PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction Shortlist (2022), PEN/Jean Stein Book Award Shortlist (2022)

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